BOSTON: OFF-CAMPUS EDUCATION
Learn why there's no better place to be a college student.

Considering going to college in or around Boston? Congratulations, you just made the first very smart move toward what’s bound to be an exciting and prosperous academic career.

After all, Boston perfectly epitomizes the best-kept secret of the college-search process: You’re not just picking a college, you’re shopping for a way of life.

More than ever before, your educational experience will extend far beyond the classroom. Envision fueled discussions in coffee shops and painting lessons in the park. Visits to the theater, art galleries, and major-league sporting events. Seminars at nearby colleges. Internships at biotech labs, architecture firms, or movie studios. Job interviews—and job offers —in elegant boardrooms.

At least, that’s how it should be. College is a time to explore the world. So put yourself in a place where you’ll be surrounded by every opportunity under the sun.

In Boston, there’s the gleaming, skyscraper- studded downtown— the heart of all the action. Then, just across the Charles River, there’s the renowned city of Cambridge, where there are surely more Nobel Prize winners, street musicians, coffeehouses, and bookstores per capita than anywhere else on the globe. And just a short subway or commuter train ride away, you have a plethora of quaint but vibrant New England towns, home to some of the best colleges anywhere. Finally, when the time comes, there are fantastic road trips in all directions—you're within an hour's drive of Cape Cod, two hours from Newport, RI, less than three hours from the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, and four hours from New York City.

In the 2007 College Destinations Index, a recent nationwide rating of higher-education destinations, one major city stood out from all the rest. It ranked number one in essentially every category—academic environment, cultural and social resources, quality of life, and professional opportunities. That city was Boston, a place where all the right elements converge to give you a world-class education you’ll never forget.

Sure, it’s home to more than a quarter-million students, with one in every five people on the street affiliated with higher education. And yes, there are more than 80 colleges in the region, ranging from art schools to music conservatories to women’s colleges to institutes of technology to internship-centered curriculums to liberal arts colleges large and small. But that’s just the start.

Of course, you may never want to leave, even for vacation. Everywhere you look, you’ll find something going on. The pulsing music venues that gave birth to Aerosmith, John Mayer, and the Dropkick Murphys. The athletic stadiums that are straight out of the sports history books (heard of Fenway Park?). The achievements of classic artists such as Monet, Gauguin, and Renoir at the Museum of Fine Arts, not to mention gems by these masters’ modern-day equivalents at the brand new Institute of Contemporary Art.

No wonder people from all over the world come here to live and to learn. You’ll see this exhilarating diversity first-hand, in the assorted shops and restaurants of Boston’s many
varied neighborhoods, not to mention the international mix of students with whom you’ll share the classroom. Here, eight percent of your classmates will be from a different country—far more than in New York City, San Francisco, or any other major metropolitan area.

And when it’s all said and done, and you have your college diploma in hand, you can rest assured you will be among the most hirable post-grad populations in the country, no matter if you want to become a ground-breaking scientist, a successful financial whiz, or an international artistic superstar.

After all, with a Boston-based college education on your resume, you’ll be showing everyone that you know how to make a very smart decision.